The present invention relates to a blank material for a connector, designed for use in attachment of a buckle mechanism to the end of a flexible cable in a safety seat belt.
Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, when a conventional blank material for a connector 2' is pressed into the form of a connector 2 in a single step, excessive forces are applied to the wires forming a flexible cable due to its cylindrical form. That is, since the blank material 2' is pressed into a hexagonal shape with formation of vertical grooves, flattened portion and so on, excessive external forces are applied to the portion hatched which is in FIG. 4, including the vertical grooves 23, 25 and the flattened portion 24. Such external forces then concentrate upon four of the wires 1' forming the flexible cable 1, as best shown in FIG. 5. As a result, those four wires are finely cracked, leading to a lowering of their tensile strength.